Lynchburg School Board talks of extended school day

By Annie McCallum

Published: November 18, 2008

In the face of a widening achievement gap and a possible budget shortfall, the Lynchburg School Board discussed Tuesday a pilot program that would extend the school day at three elementary schools and cost an estimated additional $300,000 annually.

“The idea would be we would add the time to a school’s day and we would add the time for remediation and reinforcement,” said Superintendent Paul McKendrick.

Under the proposal, 30 to 50 minutes would be added to each day at Heritage, R.S. Payne and Perrymont elementary schools. Additionally, teachers would start the year with two to three additional workdays. McKendrick said he has already met with staff at the schools to discuss the idea.

“It has nothing to do with those faculties not doing a good job, because they have,” he said. “The challenges are getting greater and greater and they need more time to get this work done.”

In recent years, the school division has shown a decrease in reading scores and a wider achievement gap among some groups of students, while showing an increase in math scores. Several years ago, resources were diverted to math, which at the time was problematic.

“We have children that just need more time,” McKendrick said.

Tuesday’s work session was the board’s first chance to hear the proposal. McKendrick told board members up front that budget and transportation concerns as well as staff commitment could be a problem.

“I don’t want people to be there if they don’t want to do this,” he said. “If we don’t have people committed to this it’s not going to work.”

School board member Mary Ann Barker asked if a year-round option had been explored. McKendrick said most staff members didn’t want to extend the year and a discussion about changing the calendar would need to involve the community.

Some board members asked about the benefits of a longer day versus a longer year. Board member Leslie Faircloth said for some students the day is already long enough.

“We need a long school year, more days of school,” Faircloth said, later adding, “I really just don’t see it being such a brutal thing to do, another three or four weeks of school.”

Faircloth suggested public forums to discuss the potential for a longer year. Board member Keith Anderson agreed and said the way to present it to the community is to make a good argument for additional time.Deputy Superintendent Roger Roberts cautioned board members about the financial impact a longer year might have; just as lengthening the day adds a cost, so does lengthening the year.

“It would cost five times as much as a pilot program like this would,” Rogers said regarding extending the school year by a few weeks.

As for the pilot proposal, board member Darin Gerdes questioned how it could be paid for next year. He pointed out the upcoming budget cycle is expected to be tough, but if closing the achievement gap is a priority, perhaps cuts could come from somewhere else to finance the pilot program.

“We need to man up and do what we need to do and carve something out of the budget,” he said.

Board members took no official action on the proposal Tuesday. They agreed nothing needed to be decided immediately and ultimately it would come down to the budget, but said it’s an important proposal to consider.

“We can’t afford not to educate our children,” Anderson said.